Improvement in railway frogs



WOODVILLE.

Railway Frogs.

No 140,230. Patentedlune 24,l873.

Wiiesses: Inventor:

I Per Q/MXOWL/Q mmeysu JOHN woonvrnnn, or WASHINGTON, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY FROGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,230, dated June 24, i873; application filed d ,April 26, 1873,

To all whom it may concera:

Be it known that I,Jo1-IN WOODVILLE, of \Vashington, in the county of Daviessand State ofIndiana, have invented a new-and Improved Railway Turn-out, of which the fol-' lowing is a specification:

' consequence of so working, have considerable lateral play, which necessitates different con- I ditions in the switches, guard-rails, and frogs from those which suflice for cars in which the wheels are'fixed on the axles. Such wheels, furthermore, have to be provided with much wider flanges, in consequence of the unevenness of the road-beds, which are only temporary, the tracks being moved from time to time, as in the progress of the work the faces of the veins recede from the tracks; and these wide flanges necessitate the arrangement of the rails so as to prevent the wheels running on theflanges as much as possible at the switches. The invention comprises improvements in the former construction of points of switch rails h d..

Figurel isalongitudinal section of theturnout with the movable tongue, showing the supports. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the turn-out with the movable point; also the frog and the guard therefor; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the turn-out with the stationary points only to the switch.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

A represents the wing-plate for the outside rail, and B the one for the inside rail, each containing a short section, 0 D, of the .princi pal rail, and a guard-rail, E F; also the stationary switch-points G H. The peculiarities of these points are: The pointed end Gr terminates at such a point in the line of the outside rail I of the branch track that the gage is increased on the radial line a about one and a quarter inches; and the pointed end of H is so arranged that the gage on the radial line bis increased about an inch and a half, so that, notwithstanding the lateral play of wheels on the axles-which is sometimes considerable in consequenee of the wearing of the hubs and collars-they will be switched off on the curve 7 with certainty in case the car isi-vpplled by the team to the left, so that the front whee-lat that side comes against the rail Dfor the distance between the point of G and rail D, being thus increased, willinsure the passage of the lefthand wheel. on the right of point G. But if the car is to continueon the straight track the point G, beingsodistant from the rail 0, will insure the passage of the'wheels of that sidebetwcen them; and, in case the wheels I I the turn-out is not very short, so that the, team will not natural'lyturn out enoughto pull the car over into" the switch, it is desirable toemploy one, which, in such a case, I ap-- ply as represented in'Figs. l and 2, making the point G a little shorter, Witha concave end, and pivoting the tongue M at the concave end of it by a pin, N, extending down through the wing-plate, and having an arm,

0, fixed on it, and extending outside of rail O a suitable distance, and eonneeted,bya

rod, P, to the lower end of the vertical lever Q, pivoted at R'to a post or any suitable support, and having an arm, S, projecting each way, whereon to suspend a weight, V, for holding the tongue open or closed, as. may be desired,the weight being put on one arm to hold it open, and the other tohold it closed.

The upper extensiorr'of the lever may-be used to shift the tongue by hand, if necessary; but, as switch-tenders are not employed in 1nines,and the drivers are required to shift the switches, I propose to have a cord or rod,

"1, extending along the track each way, so that" when it is desired to have-the cart-ake the course which the tongue would, under the influence of the weight, prevent it from taking,

the driver can shift the tongue while riding on the car by reaching out and pulling the cord. V

I propose to arrange the points above the bottom of the ,plate A on rests, so that it will be, for the most part of its length, free to pass over the earth and small objects on the plate A.

W and X are guard-points, arranged in such local relation to the switch as to prevent the loose wheels of the cars from striking the rails at y, and thus guide them into the narrow spaces 2.

Havin g thus described my inr ention, I claim as new and desire to secure 'by Letters Patcut- 1. The fixed points G and H, constructed and arranged slightly inclined, or at such an angle to the rails, that the gage of the track is.

increased on the radial lines a and b, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The arrangement of the tongue on rests, supporting it on the bottom of plate A, in the manner described.

JOHN WOODVILLE.

Witnesses:

W M. l). BYNUM, M. '1. OMALEY. 

